mikromedia 5 for Tiva Overview

The mikromedia 5 for Tiva is a complete hand-held multimedia development system with a five-inch 800×480-pixel TFT touchscreen display. The central part of the system is the Texas Instruments TM4C129XNCZAD Tiva ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller. It has 120MHz operation, 1MB of Flash, 256KB of SRAM, a µDMA controller, an on-chip LCD controller, and a lot more.

The number of modules integrated on a single PCB is remarkable. These include communications interfaces like the popular CC3000 WiFi module, a Nordic nRF24L01P 2.4GHz RF transceiver, and an Ethernet connector with LAN filter. It has 8MB SDRAM that you can use to store images and resources for the large TFT touchscreen with a performance boost. The VS1053 Stereo Audio Codec with quadrupole audio jack allows MP3 audio reproduction. A microSD card slot is available for storing external resources.

An ADXL345 Serial Accelerometer helps detecting the screen orientation. A Li-Polymer Battery Charger and a battery connector allow the board to have an autonomous battery power supply. A discrete On/Off switch is provided. A piezo buzzer can provide audible signals. An RTC battery backup will retain date/time settings.

Perhaps the most significant feature is the integrated mikroProg for Tiva ICDI debugger, so you can program and debug without needing to purchase any additional hardware.

The board measures 135.1 × 86.8 mm. All unused microcontroller pins are available via pads along the sides of the board (header pins are provided loose). These allow you to add the optional mikromedia 5 for Tiva Shield for further expansion possibilities.

A color user manual is included, and the board comes with a software example pre-loaded. Additional code examples are available for free download. The board also ships with a stylus, an Ethernet cable, a USB cable, a microSD card, and a set of spacers for mounting purposes.

The system is powered by your PC via USB, through a barrel jack connector (5V to 12V DC), or by an optional Li-Polymer battery. A charging circuit is on board that allows a connected battery to be recharged when one of the other power sources is present.

Visual TFT Overview

Visual TFT is a standalone application used for rapid development of graphical user interfaces for TFT displays. The software generates code compatible with mikroElektronika compilers for all supported MCU architectures. Visual TFT implements an intuitive environment and many drag-and-drop components which can be used for building applications easily and fast. Upgrades to the Visual TFT software are free for life.

Please see the Visual TFT page for details, documentation, videos and a downloadable demo version.

Overview of Compiler and IDE for ARM Cortex

mikroC is a full-featured compiler for Texas Instruments Stellaris/Tiva and STMicroelectronics STM32 devices. It features an intuitive IDE, a powerful compiler with advanced SSA optimizations, lots of hardware and software libraries, and additional tools that will help you in your work. The compiler comes with a comprehensive Help file (700 pages) and lots of ready-to-use examples designed to get you started in no time.

Each compiler license includes free upgrades and tech support for the lifetime of the product. The software features a Live Update service so you can get new features and improvements instantly.

The compiler is designed to be smart and efficient, so you can rely on it to do the hard work. It features SSA optimizations that can reduce your code size up to 40 percent. Standard header files are included that make it easy to port your code from other C compilers.

Please see the mikroC page for a detailed list of features, documentation, and a downloadable demo version.